The sky was perfect tonight, dark and clear, allowing the stars to shine beautifully all across the night sky. I reach up and pretend to grab a handful of stars out of the sea of glittering lights, this view reminded me of why I liked coming up here so much. I open my hand back up as if to let the stars go, laying my back down on the cold roof tiles I find them oddly comforting. I had always found this roof a quiet and peaceful place to gather my thoughts, my parents on the other hand hated that I came up here always worried that I would fall.

After my fight with Keira I tried going to my room to calm down and gather my thoughts, but the room wasn't mine anymore, Alice and Cora had clearly made themselves at home. Their clothes were strewn about the room, a bra was hanging from the ceiling fan, and a pair of panties were sitting on top of the desk were some of my books still sat. Sprays, lotions, and perfumes were on top of almost every flat surface and I couldn't even see the top of the dresser.

Looking around at the carnage in my old room I couldn't help but laugh. It had reminded me of the times I went over to their apartment to help clean only to go over the next day and find the same mess all over again. Thankfully, laughing had helped calm me down and that's when I remembered the roof. Up here the quite of the night and the view of the stars immediately helped put my mind at ease.

As I lay here looking up at the stars, I no longer felt angry. So, I guess it's time for us to talk.

"You can come out now, I know you're there, I can feel you." I say aloud.

Even though Keira left the house she never left the area. The moment I calmed down I could feel her presence nearby watching and waiting for me.

After a few moments I hear soft steps approach me from the side. I look over to see Keira hesitantly making her way over to me with fear in her eyes. I could sense her fear wasn't of me, but rather she was scared of hurting me again.

Sitting up I pat the spot next to me, "Come here."

Keira sits down and immediately begins to apologize. "Caden, I'm so sorry. I-I don't know why I said those things. And I swear as soon as we get home, Lisa is gone I'll-"

I put a finger to her lips to stop her from talking. "It's okay and you don't have to get rid of Lisa"

Keira tries to speak again but I beat her to it. "Lisa already hates me, and I don't want to add anymore fuel to that fire. Besides I'm not angry anymore and if your pack hears you got rid of Lisa because of me, they'll assume it's because I asked you to and lose all respect for me."

To tell the truth I don't think I was ever really mad at Keira, I mean how could I be? I never explained to her why and how my family came to mean so much to me.

I take the locket with the picture of me with my birth parents from around my neck and hand it to Keira. "Here, open it."

Keira opens the locket and sees the picture inside.

"That's me with my birth parents, they died when I was still just a baby. They never hid the fact that I was adopted, in fact they made sure to explain it to me the moment they felt I would understand."

"Why?"

"Because they wanted me to know from the beginning that I was loved by my birth parents and that even though I wasn't their biological son, and a human to boot, that they loved me too."

Keira hands me back the locket. "They looked like good people." Keira offers with a sad smile.

"Thank you."

"Is that why your so loyal to them, your adopted family, because they took you in even though they knew you were human?" Keira asks.

"I'm loyal because my family loves me and I know that without question they would do anything for me, even fight for me."

Keira looks at me, curiosity oozing out of her.

I chuckle, "I'm assuming you wanna hear this story?"

Keira just nods, her eyes as wide as a little kid's.

I let out a sigh and begin, "It was about ten years ago, I was eight at the time and by this point I already knew that I was adopted and understood that I was different from the rest of my family. My parents had been invited to some big formal black-tie event outside of Crestwood, I don't remember what the party was for, but I remember it being a big deal. By this point all the packs knew about my brother Lucas, but only a few knew about me. So, my parents decided that this party was going to be where they showed me not just to the rest of Crestwood, but to packs outside of Crestwood as well.

I remember being soo nervous when my parents told me; I was so scared of doing or saying the wrong thing and embarrassing them. I still remember standing in front of a mirror practicing what I was going to say when I met these new wolves." I say with a self-deprecating smile.

Keira smiles, I could tell she was picturing me as a little kid practicing in front of a mirror.

"The night of the party it was just me and parents, they had left everyone else behind as an act of trust toward the hosts of the party. I remember walking into a huge dining hall filled with rows of tables brimming with all kinds of foods, beautiful chandeliers hanging high above lighting up the entire room, and I remember the deafening silence that filled that room when they all saw me walk in with my parents. The silence lasted a second longer than comfortable, but despite a few disapproving glances, everyone still showed my parents the respect of an alpha and his mate. Some were friendly enough and even said hi to me, others thought I was some sort of pet being kept by the pack, and some just pretended I didn't even exist."

Keira tenses up beside me, her anger rising on my behalf.

"The night seemed to be going well enough, but then Clermon showed up; he was the alpha of the New Shire pack and an avid human hater. I had heard my father talk about him before, at one point they had been friends with my father helping him not only financially but with pack matters as well. But their friendship had reached a breaking point when my father found out that Clermon had been secretly making slanderous comments about him behind his back to the other alphas in an effort to gain their help in taking over my father's pack.

Of course, at the time I didn't know about any of that, I just remembered hearing my father say his name a few times and thought they were friends. So, when I heard his name and saw him being greeted by some other wolves, I thought I would make a good first impression by introducing myself. I slowly made my way up to him, the whole time practicing what I was going to say to him in my head. When I finally reached him, and I gently tugged his tux to get his attention, said excuse me, and I stuck out my hand to begin introducing myself but the moment he saw me he backhanded me away."

Anger and killing intent begin to flow out from Keira, but she surprisingly keeps control of herself and continues to listen.

"I fell to the floor stunned, I rubbed my eyes trying not to cry, but I'll never forget the look of disgust and contempt on his face as he looked down at me. But his words are what really hurt, I clearly remember him looking down at me yelling, 'Filthy human, what were you thinking touching me!' Some of the other wolves quickly told him who I was, but he just sneered and said, 'I know who he is, honestly what was Mattias thinking taking this human in, its nothing but a useless burden.' He went on to claim that my father wasn't capable of being an alpha and wasted no time in promoting himself as the right wolf to oversee him and his pack. Proclaiming he would be doing him favor as they were old friends."

My chest tightens at the memory.

"The next thing I know my father is stepping in and decking Clermon right in the face, breaking his nose and covering him in his own blood. Needless to say, Clermon was pissed, he called my father crazy and blamed me for his actions. Claiming I was somehow manipulating him and that I was a curse on their lives.

My father just glared at him angrily telling him, 'I just wanted my shot before she got hers'

That's when Clermon turned around and saw my mother towering over him, she had transformed into her wolf form and was radiating pure rage. Clermon fell to the floor terrified, there was no aura just pure killing intent, this wasn't going to be a fight she was going to kill him pure and simple. Her murderous intentions filled the room, everyone was afraid she'd lost herself and gone rogue. They were afraid to even move, worried that if they did, she would kill them instead. Now my mother is the sweetest most gentle person I know, but at that moment she looked more like a demon than a wolf, it was the first and only time I have ever been afraid of my family.

I'm not even sure how I did it, but somehow, I managed to pick myself up, walk over to her, and tell her that I was okay that it was okay and that she didn't need to be angry anymore. She looked at me for a moment and then decided she didn't want me to see her like that, so she stopped herself from killing Clermon. Afterward I turned to Clermon and apologized for my behavior, before I could say anything else my father picked me up, put me on my mother back, and let everyone know that we were leaving."

Keira continues to silently listen, her anger from earlier is still there but now there's something else there bubbling up with it.

"After getting back home, while my parents tucked me in for the night, I asked if I really was a burden for them. My mother looked at me and yelled me to never say that again, that I was a GIFT straight from the moon goddess herself. Hearing her say that both comforted me and broke me, I ended up crying myself to sleep while my mother held me. Afterword my father gathered up his pack and immediately set out to attack Clermon and his pack.

Clermon was completely unprepared, he just assumed that my father wouldn't have the gall to attack him after the events at the party. Honestly, I doubt it would have even mattered if they had prepared. My father may have a calm and peaceful nature but he's a cunning strategist and fierce warrior. By the time Clermon realized what was happening my father had already taken out half is pack. With his pack in ruins Clermon tried to run, but my mother quickly caught up to him and this time I wasn't there to stop her.

In a single night my family annihilated the New Shire pack and they did it for me, to show everyone what they would do for me. And for good measure my father also financially destroyed any pack associated with Clermon, to serve as a warning. I'm guessing that's where and when the rumors Daniella mentioned about me began." I said the last part more for myself then for Keira.

I look over to Keira and see her looking out in front of her deep in thought, I could feel a certain sadness coming from her.

"I can see why you value your family so much." She says as she continues to look forward.

A few moments go by without either of us saying anything. I could feel Keira struggling with something, something she wanted to tell me. And as much as I wanted to know what that was, I deicded not to push it, "It's getting late we should head back insi-"

"How much do you know about the moon goddess religion?" Keira asks.

The sudden question catches me off guard, "Honestly, not much."

"Well, my parents were fervent believers in the moon goddess religion. They were obsessed really; in fact, you could even say they were zealots. They were especially obsessed with certain rituals mentioned in some old texts, rituals that pertained to a certain prophecy." Keira rolled her eyes in disgust at the last part.

Now it was my turn to stare with wide eyed curiosity.

"The prophecy said that the wolf born of these rituals would be the True Alpha the King Alpha, and that together with two other kings they would defend and rule their people."

"You're saying that you..."

"Yep, two lunatics trying to fulfill some sort of prophecy, that's how I was born and that's when I was immediately labeled a failure and a mistake by my parents."

"What? Why?"

Keira scoffs, "Because I was born a girl, therefore ruining their plans of giving birth to the King Alpha. Honestly to this day I'm amazed they didn't just kill me outright. I can't think of a single moment where my parents didn't hate me. Every day they had something new to blame me for, I was beaten or punished constantly. I learned early on that family didn't mean jack shit, that your own blood can hate your very existence and make that existence a living hell. The rest of the pack were either too scared to say something or they just didn't care, some even took part in the abuse, called it training. Some of the males would sometimes hunt me as a group and take turns running me down."

"Oh Keira, please tell me they didn't!" I start to panic.

Keira feels my panic and I could see the realization of what I was thinking dawning on her, "No, no, no Caden I swear they never did."

She looks me in the eyes, and I could see it was the truth. I let out a sigh of relief, but now I'm hit with feelings of sadness and anger on Keira's behalf.

"My father's beta Mason would always step in before things went too far, Mason was the closest thing to a friend I had in the pack. Like most wolves Mason was born into the pack, his father was my grandfather's beta. He didn't always agree with what my father did, especially when it came to me, but he also never stopped him either. He would at least make it up to me by PROPERLY training me how to fight and thankfully I was a fast learner. Everyday I got stronger and faster, and after a while no one dared to fight me one on one anymore, not even my parents." A satisfied smile spread across Keira's mouth as she said the last part.

"Why didn't you just leave?"

"Because that would have meant they won, that they had broken me and I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction, besides I didn't want to leave the only friend I had behind. Then one day I started to notice Mason acting weird, it started with him being distracted all the time like something else was on his mind. Soon after he started disappearing for hours at a time during the day and at night he would go out alone and wouldn't come back till morning, this went on for about a year and a half. Then, for seemingly no reason at all, Mason tells my father that he's leaving the pack. Everyone was stunned especially my father, up to that point Mason hadn't just been his beta but his friend as well.

I knew something was up, so that night I decide to follow him. I ended up following him to a house just outside a small nearby town, and that's when I first saw her, his mate Jess. Seeing as how he was the one who taught me, Mason knew I had followed him and called me over to meet her. She was a wonderful lady whose warm smile made me want to smile, but what really surprised me at the time was the fact that she was human."

Hearing Mason's mate was human had a dozen different questions running through my head, but I control myself and just continue to listen to Keira's story.

"Up to that point all I knew about humans was my father's hatred toward them, he considered them inferior beings that we shouldn't taint ourselves with. But seeing as how my father was a child abusing asshole I didn't much buy into that bullshit. So, when I met Jess, I immediately took a liking to her. She was warm, funny, and knew how to put Mason in his place when he got overbearing. I also realized why Mason chose to leave my father's pack, he couldn't very well bring Jess in knowing of my father hatred toward humans. So, he chose his mate, a human woman he's known less than two years, over the pack and family he's known his whole life. But Mason didn't care, he was happy, he loved her that much already."

Keira smiled at the memory and I couldn't help but smile with her.

She glances toward me, "I can see you have questions but I'm sorry to say I don't have a lot of answers. Like us, Mason and Jess didn't have a clue on how the mating bond between a wolf and human worked. Wanting to help them I started sneaking into my father's study and began reading the old texts he had lying around, hoping at least one of them had some information. It took me a week get through it all and most of it was just more nonsense, but after checking some texts my father had labeled as 'heresy', which probably should've been the first place I should have checked, I did find out one thing. And that's the fact that a human mate will stop or regress in age to match that of their wolf mate."

So that how she already knew when I tried telling her yesterday.

"Unfortunately, that's all it said. But it was enough, her aging was the biggest concern Mason and Jess had, they were fine with finding out the rest on their own. They were so happy when I told them they practically glowed. They were going to have a happy long life together, or at least they would have."

The pain in her voice felt like a stab to my heart.

"Apparently my mother had seen me going into my father's study." The venom in Keira's voice when she said mother sent a chill up my spine. "She immediately told my father, but instead of confronting me about it they watched and waited, curious about what I was up too. That night as I headed back from telling Mason and Jess what I'd learned, my parents and the pack ambushed me. They followed my trail back to Mason and Jess and grabbed them too, dragging them both back to my father. They brought us to the back of the pack house and surrounded us so we couldn't escape.

My father was furious, he had pack members holding us down as he questioned us. He asked Mason if Jess was the reason he left the pack and why he would defile himself by being with a human woman. Mason screamed at my father to not talk about his mate like that and to let them go. My father was stunned when Mason called Jess his mate, after a moment my father looked at me and said that it was my fault, that I had corrupted Mason somehow. He began slapping me, yelling at me to undo whatever it was I did to Mason. Both Mason and Jess yelled at him to stop, that I had nothing to do with it that they were true mates. But my father didn't listen he told Mason that he was being deceived and that he needed to let go of the fake bond. But Mason refused calling my father insane, yelling that their bond was real. But still my father refused to listen, he gave Mason a pitiful look and told him not to worry that he would be free soon. Then my father took out his silver knife and began walking over to Jess, both Mason and I struggled to free ourselves, but more wolves just came to help hold us down. Mason began pleading to the other wolves, his family, to stop my father but no one moved, no one did anything but watch as my father stabbed Jess."

I clutch my chest as begin to feel Keira's sadness and anger grow.

"I was stunned, I couldn't believe my father, this pack, could do something so horrible to someone that was family. As Jess slumped to the floor Mason let out a roar of pure rage transforming and knocking everyone back. He dashed over to Jess changing back into his human form and held her in his arms. As he's holding her, I can hear her tell him that she loves him with her last breath. And that's when he snapped, Mason's mind just shattered, and he turned rogue. He transformed again and immediately went after my father, but the other pack members got in his way. He tore through and killed a few of them before they were able to pin him down. My father and his pack had the audacity to look confused, they couldn't understand why Mason had gone rogue. These wolves had been his family, and they had utterly destroyed him, it was at that moment that the word family lost all meaning to me.

And that's when I swore to myself that...."

Keira seems to catch herself, and the emotions I was feeling before suddenly cut off.

"Keira? What happened?" I ask

"Nothing, that's when the White Moon pack first attacked." Keira said in a flat tone. Before I can tell her that that wasn't what I was referring to, she continues, "Caden the point is, when you say family, I just don't get it, that word means nothing to me."

"Keira it's okay, after hearing all that I completely understand, how couldn't I. The people you were supposed to trust the most in this world betrayed you, hurt you. I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. Not every family is like my family, there are those that are like yours. Loving, funny, and quirky." Keira smiles.

I chuckle. I lean my head on Keira's shoulder and feel her lean her head against mine.

"Still not a fan of Claire though." Keira says in a pouty tone.

This time I can't help but laugh. I look up at Keira and she looks down at me, we both just stare at each other for a moment and then Keira leans in and kisses me softly on the lips. I guess this was us making up.

After a while Keira breaks the kiss, I use my hand to tuck a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and she leans into my touch.

Keira get ups and offers me her hand, "Come on, lets head back inside my butt is getting numb."

I laugh again and take her hand. As she pulls me up a howl breaks out.

I immediately recognize it, "Oh no, its an attack! They'll be here any second!"

Keira positions herself in front of me, "No, there already here." Keira growls.

As if on que three wolves land on the roof, they snarl and growl as they slowly begin to approach us, pushing us to the edge of the roof. Keira takes a step back but one of the tiles give way and she's put off balance, two of the wolves see this and immediately jump to attack. I manage to pull Keira out of the way seconds before both wolves' land where she would have been. The tiles give way to their combined weight and both wolves tumble over the edge. There's still one left but he's no match for Keira alone. Keira get's ready to make her move but stops, looking down there's a hand grabbing her ankle. One of the wolves that fell earlier had managed to catch himself on the edge of the roof by turning into his human form. Letting go of the ledge he lets gravity and his body weight do the rest as he pulls Keira over the edge with him.

"Keira!!!" I yell as I try to grab her hand but miss.

I turn around as I hear a low growl behind me. The one remaining wolf had me locked in his sights and I was completely defenseless.

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